Aysha Pollnitz

Aysha Pollnitz is an Associate Professor of History at Rice University, specializing in early modern European intellectual and cultural history. She investigates the role of liberal education in shaping political and religious cultures, with a focus on humanism's impact on students and governance. Her research has been supported by fellowships from institutions such as Trinity College, Cambridge, and the Folger Shakespeare Library. She currently explores the transatlantic translation of liberal education, particularly its adaptation in colonial Americas and its effects on indigenous students and New World discourses.

Dr. Pollnitz holds a PhD and MA from the University of Cambridge and a BA from the University of Sydney. Her 2015 book Princely Education in Early Modern Britain won the Royal Historical Society’s Whitfield Prize. She teaches undergraduate courses on Tudor/Stuart Britain, pre-modern political thought, and European gender history, and advises students on independent research projects. She directs undergraduate studies in the History Department at Rice.

• Research Interests: Political thought, education history, religious debates, and transatlantic intellectual exchanges.
• Teaching: Courses include HIST 361 (Tudors and Stuarts), HIST 311 (Sex, Gender, and Family), and HIST 392 (Pre-Modern Political Thought).